How To Become A Commercial Account Representative: What It Is and Career Path

What is a commercial account representative and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Frederik Beuk,

John Cicala Ph.D.

Commercial account representatives usually work in the sales department at a company and handle clients that are commercial businesses. They can work in insurance, retail, healthcare, or any other industry where commercial accounts need to be managed. A commercial account representative needs to have excellent customer service skills in order to build relationships with clients and retain their business.

Commercial account representatives need to have basic computer skills, such as data entry or knowledge of CRM software, in order to keep track of account details. They must also be proactive in generating sales by reaching out to potential customers and pitching their company's services to them.

Most commercial account representatives have bachelor's degrees in business, insurance or a related field. However, it is possible to succeed in this position with only an associate's degree or high school diploma. In terms of professional experience, many commercial account representatives need some sales experience before taking on the additional responsibility of running business accounts. In exchange for taking on this work, most earn an average salary of $44,208 a year.

What general advice would you give to a commercial account representative?

Frederik Beuk

Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Akron

The key consideration is whether you really want to maximize your initial salary. For instance, envision two job opportunities: one offering a salary of $50,000 per year, where you'd be the most junior team member, and the other providing $75,000 per year, with the caveat that you would be the sole sales representative for the firm. The optimal choice is to prioritize learning opportunities. In this context, being the lone salesperson for a company that compensates its highest-earning sales professional $75,000 might not be your superior option. Instead, seek a position that offers the greatest potential for learning. Subsequently, demonstrate your negotiating prowess, a critical sales skill, by securing a slightly higher salary. However, it's essential not to fixate on maximizing your starting salary. Your career requires a long-term strategy, and you have several decades ahead of you to maximize income.

ScoreCommercial Account RepresentativeUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $40,080

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.1

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 5.14%

Black or African American 3.83%

Hispanic or Latino 14.18%

Unknown 3.71%

White 72.91%

Gender

female 56.43%

male 43.57%

Age - 48

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 48

Stress level

7.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.4

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a commercial account representative

Explore commercial account representative education requirements

Most common commercial account representative degrees

Bachelor's

60.2 %

Associate

18.4 %

High School Diploma

8.8 %

Start to develop specific commercial account representative skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	41.16%
CRM	13.26%
Data Entry	10.09%
Product Knowledge	7.38%
Commercial Property	4.55%

Complete relevant commercial account representative training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New commercial account representatives learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a commercial account representative based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real commercial account representative resumes.

Research commercial account representative duties and responsibilities

Manage and maintain an internal database system to generate reports and produce accurate account information for patients and insurance companies.
Determine presumptive Medicare and/or Medicaid eligibility.
Determine presumptive Medicare and/or Medicaid eligibility.

Prepare your commercial account representative resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your commercial account representative resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a commercial account representative resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable commercial account representative resume templates

Build a professional commercial account representative resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your commercial account representative resume.